Kings of the comeback: Yankees ride 6-run 7th to MLB-best mark

NEW YORK -- These Yankees have earned a reputation as kings of the comeback, showcasing a knack for taking advantage of opportunities and overcoming deficits. Yet no one in the clubhouse could remember participating in a rally quite like their latest.

Josh Donaldson delivered a go-ahead two-run double in a six-run seventh inning, capitalizing upon two catcher’s interference errors, a walk and a hit-by-pitch as the Yankees battled back for a 9-5 victory over the A’s on Monday night at Yankee Stadium.

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“We’ve done it a lot of different ways this year, but catcher’s interferences are unique,” Donaldson said. “We’ll take it any way that we can. I feel like our lineup is pretty diverse in how we can score runs, and I think that’s always a plus.”

New York grabbed its Major League-leading 23rd come-from-behind victory as the club sent 10 men to home plate in the seventh, sparked when Aaron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton both reached base after swings struck the glove of catcher Sean Murphy.

Donaldson ripped the decisive hit down the left-field line in a frame that also featured a key DJ LeMahieu walk and a hit-by-pitch on Anthony Rizzo’s right elbow. Jose Trevino also added a two-run double, before Marwin Gonzalez stroked a run-scoring single. Albert Abreu pitched 2 1/3 scoreless innings in relief to earn his first win.

“I don’t know if a catcher’s interference is resourceful or we were just fortunate,” manager Aaron Boone said, “but DJ fell behind 0-2 in the count and works a walk. That’s huge; that sets us up. Now all of a sudden, here we go, we’ve got the big boys coming up and things are happening.”

Coming off the emotional drain of a hard-fought four-game series split against the Astros that featured a pair of Judge walk-offs, the Yankees had trailed, 5-1, after three innings. The four-run deficit matched the largest that the Yanks have overcome this year, equaling their rally in a June 9 victory over the Twins at Target Field.

Last-place Oakland batted around in a five-run third against Yankees starter Jordan Montgomery -- the big knock in that frame delivered by Elvis Andrus, who cleared the bases with a three-run double. Some other teams might have been done for the night, taking a deserved breather. Not these guys.

“It’s just all a good test for us,” Rizzo said. “Coming off a huge series with the Astros, it’s a Monday letdown. It could have been easy for Monty to give up five [runs] there and we’d roll over. That’s not the type of team this is.”

Rizzo opened the scoring with his 20th homer in the first inning, snapping an 0-for-19 stretch. Stanton trimmed the deficit with his 18th homer in the fourth, a 409-foot shot to left; seven of Stanton’s last nine hits have been homers, including each of his previous five.

Judge also had a run-scoring single in the fifth off A’s starter Paul Blackburn, who navigated five innings of three-run ball. Once the Yankees were within two runs, Boone said that he considered the game in reach.

“No question,” Boone said. “Knowing they probably had a few of their high-leverage [relievers] down, if we could just hang in there and make it tough on their starter -- who I thought threw the ball well, but we made it difficult enough on him to get him out of there after five. It was probably going to be a little bit of a challenge for them to piece it together there at the end. All of a sudden, we’re right there in real striking distance.”

Facing reliever Adam Oller in that seventh frame, LeMahieu worked a one-out walk and Judge clipped Murphy’s glove on what initially appeared to be a double-play grounder to third base.

Rizzo was then hit on the right elbow by A.J. Puk’s first pitch. (Though Rizzo exited the game an inning later, no X-rays were necessary, and Rizzo said he expected to play on Tuesday.) Stanton, too, struck Murphy’s glove with a swing to set up Donaldson, who restored the Yankees’ lead.

“We believe in our lineup, and we believe in our ability to score runs,” Donaldson said. “Our bullpen does a great job of keeping the game where it is, giving us the ability to do that; to not allow them to get those add-on insurance runs. Once it gets going, we have the ability to put up some crooked numbers. And we did that tonight.”